Habeas corpus,
In English history.
the subjects'
writ of right, passed “for the better securing the liberty of the subject,” 31 Charles II., c. 2, May 27, 1679.
If any person be imprisoned by the order of any court, or of the
King, he may have a writ of habeas corpus to bring him before the
King's bench or common pleas, which shall determine whether his committal be just.
This act (founded on the old common-law) is next in importance to
magna charta.
Parliament may suspend the habeas corpus act for a specified time in great emergency.
Then the nation parts with a portion of liberty to secure its permanent welfare, and suspected persons may then be arrested without cause
assigned.-
Blackstone.
| Act suspended for a short time. | 1689, 1696, 1708 |
| Suspended for Scots' Rebellion | 1715-16 |
| Suspended for twelve months | 1722 |
| Suspended for Scots' Rebellion | 1744-45 |
| Suspended for American War | 1777-79 |
| Again by Mr. Pitt, owing to French Revolution | 1794 |
| Suspended in Ireland in the great rebellion | 1798 |
| Suspended in England | Aug. 28, 1799, and April 14, 1801 |
| Again, on account of Irish insurrection | 1803 |
| Again, on alleged secret meetings | Feb. 21, 1817 |
| Bill to restore habeas corpus introduced | Jan. 28, 1818 |
| Suspended in Ireland (insurrection) | July 24, 1848 |
| Restored there | March 1, 1849 |
| Suspended again Feb. 17, 1866; Feb. 26, and May 31, 1867; and Feb. 28, 1868, till1 | March 25, 1869 |
In
United States history the
Constitution provides that “the privilege of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it” ; but does not specify what department of the government may suspend it. A series of contests on this subject began with the
Civil War and continued throughout, both as to the legality of suspension and the jurisdiction.
The writ of habeas corpus was first suspended by
President Lincoln between
Washington and
Philadelphia, April 27, 1861, in instructions to
General Scott (it had been suspended by State authority
[
192]
in
Rhode Island for a brief time during
Dorr's rebellion). See
Dorr, Thomas Wilson.
| President suspends the writ in Key West, Tortugas, and Santa Rosa | |
| May 10, 1861 |
| Further extension | July 2, 1861 |
| Chief-Justice Taney issues a writ of Habeas corpus May 27, to Gen. Geo. |
| Cadwallader on appeal by John Merryman, of Baltimore, then confined in Fort McHenry2 | May 25, 1861 |
| Theophilus Parsons supports President's power to suspend | June 5, 1861 |
| Attorney-General Bates asserts the President's power to declare martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus | July 5, 1861 |
| One hundred and seventy-four persons committed to Fort Lafayette, | July to Oct., 1861 |
| Suspension of the writ made general | Sept. 24, 1862 |
| Congress by act upholds this power | March 3, 1863 |
| Vallandigham arrested | May 4 1863 |
| President suspends by proclamation | Sept. 15, 1863 |
| All persons held under suspension of the writ discharged | May, 1864 |
| Suspends in Kentucky | July 5, 1864 |
| President Johnson restores the writ of habeas corpus except in the late insurrectionary States, District of Columbia, New Mexico, and Arizona, by proclamation | Dec. 11, 1865 |
| In all States and Territories except Texas | April 2, 1866 |
| Throughout the United States | Aug. 20, 1866 |
| Thirty-eight thousand arrests were made according to the provost-marshal's record, Washington, during the Civil War. |
